Embracing Chaos
by demon sloth
Summary: Harry, son of Chaos, brother of Apollymi, uncle of Ash. Harry is dropped off at Talon's for safety during Mardi Gras. Too bad he forgot about magic and technology not mixing. Takes place during Night Embrace - no pairings.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: For the sake of the timeline – Talon hasn't taken Sunshine back to his shack yet and Zarek was flown in earlier because Ash thought that he'd need help sooner rather than later thanks to Harry.

Summary: _Ash knows that Camulus has a plan to get revenge on Talon but whenever he tries to see further his vision disappears – alerting him to the fact that something will either happen to him...or to his uncle, Harry Potter, son of Chaos._ _Harry is dropped off at Talon's for safety during Mardi Gras. Too bad he forgot about magic and technology not mixing._

Disclaimer: Don't own the characters. Created the fanfic though! :P  
Set during: Night Embrace – will be spoilers for that book.  
Pairings: None.

* * *

"But why?" Harry asked, "I can help fight!"

Ash tightened his grip on the steering wheel and rolled his eyes. Again. "We don't know what Camulus' plan is and he's got at least one other god on his side. Do you know how desperate they would be to get their hands on you?"

Harry huffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

"_Especially_," Ash continued, stressing the word, "as you seem to have some sway over The Destroyer."

Pouting, Harry let his hands drop down to his lap and turned to look out of the window of the car, watching as the trees sped past them in a blur.

"It's not my fault she likes me best." He grumbled a few minutes later.

Ash shot him a droll look. "She likes you better than my _father_."

"Well...he did cheat on her. And I give her pottery."

"Pottery?"

"Yeah," Harry wiggled his fingers in front of his face, "you know, for smashing. She _is_ named Destroyer for a reason."

"And that worked?"

"Well, yeah." Harry shrugged helplessly, "Why wouldn't it? Oh, I did make them look like people she knew."

Ash looked at him in disbelief.

"What?" Harry was starting to get defensive, "We had fun!"

Ash sighed and shook his head. "Nothing, nothing. It's just a little hard for me to believe."

"You'd be surprised how much bonding you can have destroying pottery busts of your enemies." Harry paused. "Took me ages to get the dust out though."

Ash blinked, "Was that why you were stained red for a week? I had wondered."

Harry grinned. "So can I help?"

"No."

"Aw," Harry pouted and slumped back into his seat, "...Hey, wait a minute!" Harry brightened "I'm your uncle! You have to do what I say."

"Sure thing, _Uncle_. Just as soon as you're older than me." Ash smirked.

Harry gaped at him. "That's just unfair. You're really old."

"And _that_ just made you sound like a child."

"But I can help!" Harry protested, "I can distract them!"

"Harry. You're the son of Chaos. Anything you do to try and distract them is going to go wrong. _Somehow_."

"What? That's not true!" Harry paused, "Not all the time."

"That's just how it works. It's written into your very being to subvert the norm."

"Name three things!"

"The killing curse when you were one, the horcrux in your head and the fact that you came back to life."

Harry gritted his teeth. "Name five more."

"Falling a hundred feet and only breaking your wrist, surviving a basilisk bite, gaining the philosopher stone from the mirror, riding an abused dragon out of a bank without dying and facing off a hundred dementors without having your soul sucked out of you."

"Name one more."

Ash rolled his eyes, "No, I think we've established that I'm right."

"You can't, can you!" Harry chirped gleefully, "That just prov-"

"Escaping Malfoy manor."

Harry pouted and slumped in his seat. "I'm not talking to you anymore."

Ash chuckled and scrubbed his hand through Harry's hair. Harry batted him away in annoyance.

"Oi, leave off! Treat your uncle with some respect!"

"I was just fixing your hair. You want to give a good impression right?"

"Fixing my hair? My hair doesn't _fix_," Harry said pulling down the car's sun visor to check his reflection in the little mirror there, "It's just naturally mes- Hey! It's neat! How come _I _can never do that?"

"Chaos, remember?"

Harry ignored him and reached up to touch his hair which was, for the first time in his life, lying flat on his head. Ash slapped his hand away.

"Don't touch it. You'll just mess it up again and I don't think Talon would be very receptive if I bring you over with you looking like you've just been electrocuted."

"I wusn't gonna." Harry pouted, cradling his hand to his chest, "You can be so mean sometimes, Ash."

Ash raised an eyebrow at him. "I think you need to work on the innocent act."

Harry grinned. "Got it. Oh hey, are we here?" He added as Ash turned off the 'road' they were driving down and onto a muddy track.

"Not quite." Ash said as he slowed the car to a stop just outside what looked like an ancient shack and climbed out.

Harry followed Ash's example by getting out of the car too and looking around. It was dark, gloomy and creepy. He repressed a shiver as something died screaming in the swamp.

"Nice." He murmured and hurried over to where Ash was standing.

"It's locked." Ash said gesturing at the shack. "We're going to have to wait until Talon opens it up from the inside."

"Can't you just poof us in? We'd only be moving around three feet."

Ash stared at Harry, then at the door, then back to Harry.

"Better not risk it. Remember the last time I tried to 'poof' you anywhere?"

"Hey," Harry said defensively, "that wasn't my fault. And I've always wanted to see what a dinosaur looked like."

Ash raised his eyebrow with an amused smile.

"I got us out of there." Harry continued to defend himself.

"Only because that T-Rex was going to eat us."

"But it _didn't_," Harry stressed, "I saved us before we could die."

"What you did was a complete accident."

"No, I knew what I was doing the whole time."

"Oh, really. What did you do then?"

"Um," Harry fidgeted, trying to come up with something, "I used my...powers...to poof us back...from where _you_ had sent us!"

"Me?" Ash asked in disbelief, "You're going to blame that on me?"

"You're older, you should have known better." Harry said with a smug grin.

"You're my _uncle_." Ash shot back with a smirk.

"Oooh, low blow."

"What the hell?"

Both Harry and Ash jumped and spun around to see tall blond man looking at them in disbelief. The shack behind him had been opened and Harry could see an array of cars, bikes and boats. They hadn't even heard him arrive, which should've been almost impossible.

Laughing nervously Harry ran his hand through his hair, turning it back to its regular crow's nest.

Ash sighed in resignation. "Harry, this is Talon." He said making introductions. "Talon this is-"

"His uncle!" Harry chirped in happily.

Ash pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Uncle?" Talon asked faintly.

"Harry." Ash finished. "My uncle."

"How?" Talon looked between them with wide eyes.

"I'm his mother's half-brother."

Talon's jaw dropped. Ash gritted his teeth.

"Harry, what did I say about revealing information?"

"To not to." Harry grinned at Ash. "Don't worry, dear Nephew! I know what I'm doing!"

"I sincerely doubt that."

"Ash." Harry whined, "Stop undermining my authority."

"What authority?"

"You suck."

"How does that work? Are you immortal too?"

Harry stopped, his eyes widening. "You know...I've never actually thought about that." He turned to look at Ash who just shrugged.

"You'll know when you need to."

"How vague." Harry said with a fond smile, "You know, if you keep saying things like that I might just replace you with a magic eight ball. I'd get a straight answer for once."

Ash chuckled.

Talon just stared at them both looking dumbfounded and just a little terrified.

"So," Talon interrupted, "why are you here? And why did you ask me to meet you?"

Harry blinked, and then turned to stare at Ash. "You didn't tell him?" He asked.

Ash shifted slightly. "He can't run away now."

Harry grinned.

"Uh, what?" Talon asked slightly confused and not liking the implications.

"Talon, I need somewhere safe to keep Harry for a few days. Away from the daimons."

"So you brought him here?" Talon asked incredulously.

"This is the safest place at the moment. You're completely isolated and you have one of the best security networks available."

"No."

"Talon." Ash said sternly.

"What about Kyrian?"

"He's _mortal_ now." Ash reminded.

Talon looked like he was going to protest further when he caught the narrow-eyed look Ash was giving him.

"Okay," he sighed in defeat, "I'll take him."

"Thank you."

"Not like I had much of a choice anyway." Talon mumbled under his breath as he led Ash and Harry to his boat, closing the door of the shack behind them.

Harry gingerly stepped onto the raft. If there was ever a time where his powers kicked in it would be now. Fortunately, the raft didn't tip over or burst into flames or turn into something embarrassing. Harry sighed in relief and sat down, paying no attention Ash who was quietly snickering next to him.

Talon followed with wide eyes and started up the boat.

Harry spent the entire ride trying to make his hair lie flat again and ignoring the glances that Talon kept giving him and Ash.

He sighed as the wind made a mockery of his attempts and in the end just gave up. Ash shot him a grin. Harry sulked.

It was only several minutes later that Talon slowed the raft down and his house became visible.

Harry was _not_ impressed.

"You want me to stay _there_?" He asked Ash, "It doesn't look like it can stand up to a brisk wind never mind a daimon attack."

Ash clipped him backside the head and Harry yelped.

"Stop insulting Talon's home."

Harry looked over at Talon who was looking very annoyed.

"Oh, come on." He said, "It's not like you're blind. You _know_ what it looks like."

Ash clipped him again.

"Okay, okay!" Harry said, shuffling as far out of reach as possible, "Geez."

Talon brought the boat up against the dock and secured it, immediately jumping out and striding up to his front door. Ash followed at a more leisurely pace leaving Harry to scramble out after them and almost falling in.

"Careful there, Uncle."

"It's not _my_ fault." Harry grimaced, "You both have freakishly long legs that can easily step over the gap."

"Or maybe you're just short." Talon murmured under his breath.

"I heard that!" Harry called after him in annoyance before freezing in place.

"Harry?" Ash asked, slightly worried when Harry didn't respond.

"Um...is that a crocodile?"

Ash turned to look in the direction Harry was staring in and raised an eyebrow.

"No, that's an alligator."

"Oh," Harry said faintly, "what's the difference? Never mind," he cut off Ash before he could reply, "I don't care. They can both eat me."

"She's not going to eat you."

"Yeah, okay." Harry said, edging nervously with a wide berth around the huge animal that was staring fixedly at him, "Don't judge me if I don't believe you."

Ash rolled his eyes and pushed Harry up and through the front door, ignoring his protests and ignoring the sly pat on the head Talon gave the animal with a smirk.

"Wooooow!" Harry exclaimed once he had finished telling Ash how he was going to die, "I take my previous comments back. This is awesome!"

Talon flushed a little. "It's not that great." He mumbled, closing the door behind them.

"Are you kidding?" Harry asked, turning in a slow circle trying to take in everything, "This looks like something out of a film!"

"Now Harry," Ash said, trying to capture Harry's attention away from all the gadgets. "You need to sta-"

"What does that do?" Harry interrupted as he skipped over to one of the terminals and started pressing random buttons.

Ash grabbed his arms and hauled him away when it looked like Talon was about to go apocalyptic.

"What did I say about pressing random buttons?"

"To not to." Harry pouted as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Ash glared at him as Talon rushed about in the background trying to calm his machines down.

"Fine." Harry said flopping down onto the bed, "I'll just sit here and not press any buttons."

"Good boy."

Harry grimaced.

"Now," Ash continued, "You are going to stay here. You are not to leave here. You are not to touch any of the machines in Talon's house.

"In fact, you are not to move from this bed, or make any loud noises that will draw attention to this place. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded.

Ash turned to Talon who looked decidedly unimpressed that he was having to leave Harry here alone in his house with his precious equipment unguarded.

"Don't worry," Harry said with a sly grin, "I won't touch your stuff."

It didn't seem to reassure the blond man but Ash didn't give him time to reconsider and hustled him out the door.

"Remember," he shot back at Harry just as the door was about to close, "no touching."

"Got it." Harry grinned and gave him a thumbs up until the door slammed shut and the sound of the motor starting up drowned out the resident nightlife. Then Harry scowled and scuffed his foot on the floor. "Now what am I going to do?"

There was a loud bang and the door shook as something heavy seemed to charge it. Harry yelped and scrambled back into the middle of the bed, tucking his knees against his chest and staring at the door with wide eyes.

There was another bang, and another and the sound of scales rubbing against wood.

Harry just hoped that the door was stronger than it looked.

"Go away you stupid alligator!" He yelled out.

There was silence for a moment before a blood-curdling snarl echoed through the night. Harry whimpered at the sound and gathered his magic, ready in case he needed to fight off something that wanted nothing more to do than to eat him.

Three hours later found Harry bored out of his mind tossing a ball of light from hand to hand.

The alligator had scared him for the first ten minutes, but when it became clear that whatever the door was made out of was completely solid the noises became less terrifying.

He had even tried baiting the brutish animal – yelling out random words just to hear it snarl and try to break in the house.

It had even amused him for a while until the animal seemed to figure out what he was doing and had left.

Now he was stuck in a one room shack with nothing to do. The machines weren't helping either, every few moments one would let out a whirr or a bleep and sometimes even little lights would flash for a few seconds.

And he wasn't allowed to go play!

So here he was, tossing a _lumos_ ball back and forth, trying to stave off boredom until Ash and Talon came back.

Or at least he was hoping Ash came back with Talon, otherwise he'd have to go poofing about trying to find his errant nephew and with his father's influence running unchecked through his system he had no idea where he would end up...or even _when_.

All in all it was a bad idea.

He had just started to toss the ball of light to his left hand when the door gave an almighty bang.

Flinching at the sudden noise he didn't manage to get his hand up in time to catch his make-shift ball.

Harry could only watch as it sailed across the room and collided with a computer monitor where it slowly dissolved into the machine.

The screen gave a couple of flickers, turning a variety of colours from pink to green before it changed one last time to a bright blue that lit up the room.

"Ah." Harry stared at it with wide eyes. "That's not...okay, I can fix this." He pointed his finger at the screen and concentrated on his wizard magic, not his chaos magic.

"_Reparo_." He murmured, feeling smug as the blue screen disappeared into a thin horizontal line cutting across the middle before that shrank to a small dot and faded completely.

There, back to the normal black screen.

The computer the screen was connected to started make really loud clunking noises.

"Oh shit."

No sooner had the words left his mouth then the clunking noises stopped. Harry held his breath for a moment but nothing else happened. He breathed out a sigh of relief.

The computer burst into flames.

"_Oh shit!"_

Harry scrambled off the bed then flinched violently to the side as the alligator outside decided that now was a perfect time to once more try to get into the building.

After shooting a wary glance at the door that was now shaking on its hinges, Harry looked back and let out a cry of distress.

The flames had spread upwards and now half the desk was on fire.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit ohshitohshitohshit! What do I do? What do I do? I know!" Harry pointed his finger at the spreading flames, "Aguamenti!"

A jet of water shot out of his fingertips and blasted the computer terminal, dousing it with water. Harry kept up the stream until all the flames were out, then he stopped, his heart pounding and his breathing erratic.

One half of the desk had melted into a soggy pile of twisted metal and charred plastic. The other half was surprisingly intact.

Harry stared.

"Maybe he won't notice?"

The other two computers blew up, scattering sparks across the room.

Harry could only watch stunned as the floor, walls and bed caught fire.

He glared upwards, "Oh, come _on_."

The door burst in off its hinges, clattering against the far wall, and a very angry looking alligator crawled its way inside the burning building snarling at him.

"Now I know you hate me."

Harry dodged as the alligator snapped at him, unable to do anything but be herded into a flaming corner, doing his best to ignore the intense heat.

"Back! Back you stupid animal."

He spared a glance as the ceiling groaned alarmingly and started to sag in the middle.

"If now was ever a time to get this right." Harry mumbled to himself, gathering his magic to him and trying to force it to do his will. He apparated out just as the roof collapsed.

* * *

Mwahaha – sooo much fun to write :D

Next chapter – Harry meets Zarek!

If you've got any questions then drop a review. In fact, drop a review anyway! Let me know if you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it :P

Also, I'm pretty much open to HP/DH requests!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: **DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER UNLESS YOU'VE READ DANCE WITH THE DEVIL. THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.**

Again, if you didn't catch that – don't read unless you've read _Dance with the Devil_. This chapter contains major spoilers for that book! Seriously. I'm not kidding.

Timeline: Chapter takes place during Zarek's fight with the daimons – before the police arrive and he attacks them.

* * *

Harry landed heavily, his feet slamming into the ground causing his knees to instantly buckle. He gave a yelp as the rest of him followed his downwards decent and crumpled onto the floor.

The smell of wet pavement, rotting rubbish and urine invaded his nose and he grimaced as he levered himself up off his front.

He eyed a pile of rubbish that had spilled out of a broken bin bag right next to his head.

"Well..._that_ could have been worse."

There was silence.

The sort of unnatural silence that comes with people staring at you in disbelief.

Harry tensed slightly and turned around slowly to find three guys staring at him, their hands raised and bloody as if they had just been fighting mere moments before.

Which, Harry mused as he stared back, was entirely possible.

They were all really tall, and Harry took a moment or two to mentally pout at how unfair it was. They were also very attractive, but two of them – the ones with the blond hair – went way past attractiveness and into stunningly beautiful. The third one had dark hair and...was that a silver claw on his hand? He also had a really weird power signature coming off him. It reminded Harry a little of Talon.

In fact, now that he was paying attention, the two blond men had weird power signatures as well. Almost as if...

Harry's eyes widened when he recognised just what _exactly_ the two men were.

"Daimons," he breathed out in surprise. Then inwardly kicked himself as he broke whatever 'spell' his arrival had cast.

The two blond men turned away from the darker haired man and started to slink towards him. Harry scrambled to his feet and backed away.

"Such _power_..." they hissed.

Harry felt very uncomfortable.

He started to panic slightly and tried to draw his magic close to him so that he could easily defend himself if needed. Unfortunately his chaos powers were drowning out any magic he tried to grasp, roaring just beneath his skin – causing it to prickle uncomfortably and all the hairs on his body to raise.

The two daimons looked punch drunk and they were still coming after him.

Harry was really starting to panic at being cornered when one of the daimons disintegrated into dust with a short scream.

Harry barely had time to see the dark haired man with his clawed hand outstretched at exactly the same height the daimons inkspot would have been before he was rushed by the other daimon.

He let out a yell and jerked backwards into the wall, cracking the back of his head off the brickwork. The power that had been swirling around him lashed out, lighting up the alleyway with a dazzling blast of light and sending the remaining daimon flying backwards and disintegrating en route.

There was a shocked silence as the dark haired man turned to look at Harry in surprise.

Harry, for his part, was feeling rather woozy. He must have cracked his head pretty hard. He brought his hand up and carefully groped the back of his head, wincing as pain shot through his skull.

He brought his hand back down and grimaced when he saw that his fingers were covered in blood.

"You're bleeding."

Harry looked over at the remaining man who was staring at him stoically, though Harry could see wariness and concern buried deep in his eyes.

He smirked.

"You got a name? Or am I gonna have to keep calling you tall, dark and handsome in my head?"

The man scowled, concern and wariness disappearing instantly.

"What are you?" He asked instead.

"Ah, ah!" Harry smiled, trying to banish the fuzziness that was starting to cloud the edges of his vision, "Answering a question with a question is rather rude. And my _name_ is Harry." He added on as an afterthought.

The man growled and gritted his teeth together. Harry took more pleasure than he probably should at the irritation he was causing.

He blamed it on the chaos influence.

"Zarek."

Harry blinked in surprise and gave the man another once over.

"Zarek the Dark-Hunter?" He asked, "The one Ash was bringing in from Alaska?"

Zarek frowned, "You know Ash?"

Harry grinned, "He's my nephew."

Zarek's jaw dropped.

Harry just laughed until something occurred to him. "Hang on...that can't be right..."

Zarek was just to ask why when flashing blue lights lit up the alleyway and three men in uniform sprang out of the car with their guns out.

They took one look at Harry, who was still slumped against the wall looking a little out of it and his hand in front of him covered in blood and turned their guns on Zarek.

"You! Get on the ground! GET ON THE GROUND!" They yelled when Zarek didn't obey immediately.

Harry could see the fury in Zarek's eyes at the threat and knew that if he didn't act soon then Zarek was going to act like a cornered animal and things would get bad – fast.

Thinking quickly he used a weak _sonorus_ charm on himself and staggered upright.

"Wait!" He yelled at the three police officers, holding up his bloody hand in a stop gesture.

One of them turned to look at him whilst the other two covered Zarek.

Harry caught Zarek's eye and mentally begged him to wait before he acted rashly and did something stupid like attack. At least the man had had the good sense to hide his metal claw away.

"Are you alright, sir?"

Cancelling the charm had his head spinning and he groaned slightly, blinking rapidly.

The police officer that was talking to him holstered his gun and moved towards him in worry. "Sir? Do we need to call an ambulance?"

"It's not..." Harry tried, "It's not Zarek's fault."

Harry mentally hit himself when the policeman just looked at him in confusion. Harry glanced past his shoulder to see that the tension between Zarek and the police was stable but rising slowly with every minute that Zarek wasn't lying on the ground.

Harry just gestured at Zarek before going back to clutching the back of his head.

"Zarek." He said, "It wasn't him. There were two guys, they both jumped me and dragged me in the alleyway. They said they were going to kill me." He added in a whisper.

"Sir, do you know this man?"

Harry could tell that the police were just checking that he knew Zarek and was sure that he wasn't in on his supposed attack.

Harry nodded, then closed his eyes when he realised that that was a _bad_ mistake.

"Yeah," he said weakly, and then had to bite the inside of his cheek hard when the perfect reason popped into his head, "he's my boyfriend."

There was silence.

Harry cracked an eye open to see a small uncomfortable look pass over the policeman's face before it was buried beneath solid professionalism.

Harry had to hand it to him; he wasn't letting any prejudice show. If that was what the uncomfortable look was in the first place.

Harry sometimes had difficulty telling. For all he knew the look of uncomfortableness could have well been caused by embarrassment over holding Harry's supposed boyfriend at gunpoint.

Harry had the distinct feeling that when his head wasn't hurting so much and making everything fuzzy, he'd regret coming up with that excuse.

The policeman turned to his colleges and told them to stand down. One of them started to run down to check the other end of the alleyway to see if he could spot where the two 'men' had run off to. The other made his way over to where Harry was standing.

He was followed closely by Zarek whose face, Harry noted with amusement, looked positively thunderous.

Well at least, Harry tried to console himself; it could be passed off with his boyfriend's attackers getting away.

He snickered to himself.

"Sir," the policeman that had been talking to him called out, getting his attention, "a paramedic has been called to check you over."

"Oh no," Harry tried to protest, "I'm fine. Really." He stood up and immediately collapsed. He would have hit the dirt for the second time that night if Zarek hadn't caught him on his way down and dragged him back up, his arm wrapped securely around Harry's waist.

Harry could feel the tenseness in Zarek's muscles as he leaned against him. He would care, but Zarek felt solid and warm beneath his hands and his head stopped hurting just that little bit when he leaned it against his chest, closing his eyes.

"We'll also need a statement from you both and a description of your attackers."

Harry barely heard him, the fuzziness in his head made everything sound kind of...soupy.

Then there was the startling feeling of vertigo as he was jerked. He blinked awake to see Zarek frowning down at him.

"You have a concussion." He said in a gravelly voice, "Don't go to sleep."

"But am ti'ed..." Harry whined, barely noticing the slight slur his words had taken.

"No."

Harry pouted and looked back at the policemen who were looking at him in slight concern.

"Y'ur police. O'der him to l't me sle'p."

The second policeman looked at him in amusement. Whilst the first turned back to Zarek.

"The ambulance should be here any minute, sir."

The third officer returned from wherever he had been and joined them.

"No sign of anyone."

Harry stared at the man, who shifted slightly under his scrutiny then turned to look at the other two officers before looking back at Zarek.

"H'w com' y'ur all reeeeally tall?" He asked, "'T's unfaaaair."

The third policeman chuckled slightly. "Concussion?" He asked.

Zarek smirked and rolled his eyes.

Another flashing light joined the police car in lighting up the alley. Harry flopped backwards over Zarek's arm and grinned happily.

"Look! Flashy! Pr'tty!"

Zarek shared a look with the police officers before wrapping his other arm around Harry and carrying him over to the back of the ambulance which had opened up.

Harry stared around in dazed wonder as the paramedics looked him over. One of the police officers got into the back of the ambulance with them and started to take down Zarek's statement and descriptions of the two men.

Harry would have helped but he was enjoying thwarting most of the paramedics attempts to get close enough to him to examine him.

It probably would have gone on a lot longer with the man getting more and more frustrated if Zarek hadn't spotted what Harry was doing and lifted Harry to sit in his lap.

Harry pouted as Zarek's arms wrapped around him, restraining him, and only whimpered a little bit when the paramedic was finally able to examine him fully.

He ignored Zarek's smirk.

It was over half an hour later, after the crowds that had gathered had been driven off, that Harry was let out of the back of the ambulance, still supported mostly by Zarek.

The police had left after they had confirmed the statement with Harry (which had been so much harder than it should've been) and had checked with the paramedics that Harry wasn't going to have to go to hospital.

The paramedics assured them that it was just a mild-ish concussion and that as Harry had refused point blank to go to the hospital they couldn't actually take him.

The police were more assured when Zarek let it be known that he could take care of his 'boyfriend'.

After the ambulance had driven off and left them alone Zarek dug out his mobile phone and texted Talon – letting him know that the Daimon's outside Runningwolf's were after his girl and that he should be careful.

After that he turned back to the shorter man still in his embrace who was staring at him with wide eyes.

"I think we need to talk."

"Okay!"

Zarek slid his other arm beneath Harry's knees and lifted him bridal style and started the long arduous trek back to the apartment Ash had gotten him. When there he dropped the smaller man on the couch and straightened his spine, cracking out the tension that had gathered there.

Harry just stared up at him with a smile.

"Right." Zarek said, "Before we were interrupted by the police." Zarek paused, not wanting to ask the question because he didn't really want to know the answer.

"Yeah?" Harry prompted, feeling a little better. The long walk in the crisp evening air had helped clear some of the mugginess out of his head.

"You said you were Ash's uncle."

"Yes." Harry confirmed.

"You are?" Zarek asked in some surprise. "Does that make you a Dark Hunter too?"

Harry stared at him. "No...?" He said slowly in confusion, turning it into a question at the end.

"Zarek frowned, "What do you mean by that?"

"It's just," Harry's confusion was thick now, "I don't understand what you mean by 'too'."

"I'm a Dark Hunter." Zarek stated, looking at Harry as if he had lost his mind.

"No you're not." Harry countered, wearing the exact same expression.

Zarek could only stare at him dumbfounded.

"Of course I am," he managed to get out; his throat feeling like it was slowly closing.

"Nu-uh." Harry shook his head wildly, then gripped it with a grimace and levered himself up until he was propped up against the backrest. "Dark Hunters lose their souls. You still have yours."

Zarek's mouth went dry.

"I might have a slight concussion now." Harry continued, "But I _think_ I can sense souls. And you," he said pointing imperiously at Zarek, "have a soul."

"So," Zarek croaked out, then cleared his throat, "so, I'm not a Dark Hunter?"

Harry shrugged. "Dunno. You have a soul and," he paused and scrutinised Zarek carefully, brushing his magic along Zarek's skin and tasting the weird power that he seemed to exude, "you are immortal."

Zarek's eyes widened and he sat down heavily next to Harry, unable to believe what he was hearing.

The something occurred to him.

"Sunlight."

Harry looked at him questioningly.

"Sunlight." He repeated, "What about sunlight? Would that affect me?"

Harry stared at him with wide eyes, "Well, it certainly didn't seem to affect you in the alleyway."

"What?"

Harry frowned a little, "In the alleyway," he repeated, "that bright flash of light was sunlight. I knew that sunlight kills daimons and when it attacked my powers lashed out to protect me and kill in the quickest way possible."

"Are you," Zarek cleared his throat again, anger seeping into his voice, "are you telling me that for all this time I've been able to go out in sunlight without dying?"

Harry bit his lip. "Yes...?" Seeing Zarek's fury he winced, "Was I...was I not supposed to tell you?"

Zarek stood up with a roar and threw the coffee table across the room where it shattered into splinters against the wall.

"That _BITCH!_"

"Guess not then..."

"I'm gonna _fucking _kill her!"

Harry opened his mouth to say something but closed it immediately when Zarek picked up a dining room chair and threw that at the wall too.

Looking down he saw Zarek's phone which had fallen to the floor when the table had taken the trip through the air.

"Um," Harry said, snagging the phone and edging away, "I'm just...gonna use your bathroom, ok?"

Zarek's reply was another chair splintering on the wall.

Harry nodded to himself and ducked into the bathroom, securely locking the door behind him.

Splashing some water on his face to wake him up just that little bit more he sat on the closed lid of the toilet, picked up the phone and opened the address book, immediately dialling Ash.

"Zarek," Ash's voice sounded tired and stressed, "what is it now?"

"Hey, Ash."

There was the sound of scrambling on the other end of the phone.

"Harry?" Ash asked, sounding panicked, "Where are you? Are you okay? Why are you phoning from Zarek's phone? It's been _three days!_"

Harry winced, "Wait." He said, "Three days? But I just poofed like...two hours ago!"

"Where are you?" Ash asked again, sounding much calmer than before.

Harry winced as the sounds of more splintering wood came through the door.

Looked like Zarek found the dining table.

"And what is that noise?"

"Um..." he said, "that's Zarek...he isn't very happy at the moment."

"Has he hurt you?"

Harry whipped the phone away from his ringing ear and blinked a few times before he gingerly held the phone back against his head.

"Um no, actually he saved me! Sort of..."

"Harry..."

Harry could tell that Ash was pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.

"Really," he added, "He's been brilliant. He just...got a bit angry when I told him that he's not really a Dark Hunter."

There was silence on the other end. Thinking that he had probably blown the secret he started to apologise.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I didn't know that he wasn't supposed to know, you know? I mean _not _know. About the soul thing. The fact that he has one and can go out in daylight and all that.

"It's just I have a concussion and –"

"Wait. You have a concussion?" Ash interrupted him, sounding worried again, "Where are you?"

"Um...Zarek's bathroom."

Ash hung up the phone and before Harry could blink Ash was there hugging the life out of him.

"I was so worried." Ash whispered into his ear.

Harry was going to joke it off but couldn't get anything past the lump which had appeared in his throat. Instead he nodded against Ash's shoulder and hugged him back.

Something shattered.

Both Ash and Harry looked up at the closed door at the same time.

"What?" Ash asked.

"Yeah," Harry rubbed the back of his head, wincing slightly at the pain. "I'm sorry about that. I really honestly thought he knew."

Ash looked at him, "Knew about what?"

Harry hesitated, "About the fact that he has a soul and can go out in daylight?"

Ash stared at him blankly.

"Um..." Harry continued, "you _did_ know about that right?"

"How is that...?" Ash started, and then scowled darkly. "That bitch."

"That's what he said." Ash looked at him and Harry motioned towards the door. "Zarek," he continued, "that's what he said. Then he started to destroy the furniture. It looked fun. Not as fun as pottery though" he added, "wood takes a lot more effort to smash."

Ash sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay." He said, "Let's go get this sorted out."

Ash reached the door then paused, as if he had realised something. He turned to face Harry with a smirk on his face that Harry knew would only spell doom for him.

"Oh," Ash added innocently, "do you know anything about a male _couple_ that was attacked in an _alleyway_ that match your descriptions completely, by two men that sound alarmingly like _daimons_?"

Harry flushed bright red. "No." He said, knowing that it sounded like a complete lie.

Ash just laughed.

* * *

So! Chapter two! This one was rather fun to write as well – and if you were thinking that the rate of Harry's recovery was a little unbelievable – just remember that he's a lot more powerful than he was in Hogwarts.

Also, he hasn't actually recovered; he's just used to working with head injuries. So much so that a little fuzziness doesn't really bother him much anymore.

I hoped you all enjoyed reading the chapter – and thanks so much to those of you who have reviewed and put this on your favs and alerts. There's only one more chapter to go! And if you liked this then feel free to check out my other HP/DH stories, and again, I'm open to requests (though I have quite a few to get through :P)


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: So...I had a dream about writing this chapter...which I took to be my subconscious kicking my arse into gear to finish it before uni work crushes me like a bug :)

If you enjoy it drop me a review!

* * *

Harry followed Ash out of the bathroom with his face still bright red. They entered a warzone. Whilst they had been tucked away it seemed that Zarek had taken it upon himself to find every bit of smashable furniture or decoration in the place and...well...smash it.

Even some of the supposedly _unbreakable_ stuff as well.

Ash stood looking at the destruction in alarm. "You know," he said conversationally, "the next door neighbours have probably already called the police, right?"

Harry rolled his eyes, then blinked and looked again. There, to the right, was a completely unharmed vase. He stared at it with wide eyes, not knowing how it had survived this far and not really caring. He slowly reached down and patted the ground around his feet, keeping his eyes on the piece of pottery. His fingers brushed against something wooden and he straightened up and swung it like a bat at the vase which shattered on impact, pieces flying across the room from the force of the blow.

There was silence and Harry looked up to see both Zarek and Ash looking at him with odd expressions.

"Oh, come _on_." He said, waving his makeshift bat (which turned out to be a chair leg) at them. "Why does Zarek get to have all the fun?"

"Harry." Ash sighed, "Did you just miss me getting Zarek to _stop _with the destruction because the police are likely on their way?"

"Er, yeah. Must have missed that."

"What are we going to tell them happened here?" Ash said in annoyance, spreading his arms wide to encompass the entire room which was now basically a box of wood splinters. "Oh yes office, we just decided to do some late night _renovating_. Nothing to be alarmed about.

"_That'll go down well_."

"Pssssh, Ash, you worry too much." Harry waved him off, "Just do your poofy magical fixer thing and _all_ will be _fine_."

"I think you've still got a concussion." Ash deadpanned.

"Probably!" Harry chirped in agreement. "But that doesn't stop the fact that you can do your poofy magical fixer thing at the end."

Ash rolled his eyes, the corner of his lips twitching. "Fine."

"Wonderful!" Harry said brightly and clicked his fingers.

There was another silence.

"Is that..." Zarek said "a life-size sculpture of Artemis?"

"Made out of pottery." Harry agreed.

"It's remarkably accurate." Ash said uncertainly.

"Well yeah, it'd have to be. Apo- er..._your mother _is kinda picky about these things. It's even got her birthmark on. See? Don't ask me how I found out about that, please." Harry added when Ash shot him a startled look. "It's not something I want to scar myself with again."

There was silence.

"Well?" Harry said, "Have at it!"

"What?" Ash said as Zarek rushed forward with a war cry and rugby tackled the statue. "Wait," he said turning to Harry, "is this what you meant by giving my mother pottery to smash?"

"Well yeah," Harry said in bemusement, "what did you think I meant? Plates?"

"Um..."

"There's no fun in smashing plates when you could be grinding your heels into the faces of your enemies."

"I think I've got that now, thanks. But no, when you said busts I thought you meant...well..._busts_." He sighed at Harry's look of confusion. "You know? Something smaller?"

"But if it's smaller then it's less fun."

"Never mind."

Harry smiled and nodded, "So, any requests? Artemis is like...the number one on my list but I can do others. The Atlantian pantheon, most of the Greek pantheon...though for some reason I can't get Zeus' beard to come out right. Also, Apollo always looks like he's in the middle of spasming for some reason..."

Ash closed his mouth from where it had fallen open. "Um...just an Artemis for me."

"Sure thing!" And with a click of his fingers there was another Artemis statue standing in the middle of the room. "You want a bat or...?"

"I got this." Ash said darkly as he cracked his knuckles. "And keep them coming."

Harry nodded. "Riiight. Will do." Then clicked his fingers creating his own statue of a tall spindly looking man with no nose and a constipated look on his face. "Why hello there Tom," he said, tossing his bat between his hands "we meet again."

Smashing pottery sculptures into dust was harder work than they had originally thought and soon they had all shucked their shirts and were working up a nice sweat from all the exercise they were doing.

Then someone pounded on the door.

At once Harry, Zarek and Ash stopped what they were doing and looked up at the door, then at each other.

Ash shrugged, "Looks like the fun's over."

Harry grinned, out of breath, "Told – you."

Ash rolled his eyes. "Harry, go get that whilst I fix this."

"Orders – orders. You're not – supposed to – order me – around."

"Harry."

"Gone, I'm gone."

Harry opened the door to see two police officers there. The two from the alley. "Oh." He said, his eyes going wide.

They two officers looked at him in surprise, taking in his state of dress...or _lack thereof_ and the sheen of sweat on his chest and the fact that he was panting.

They smirked. "Hello again."

"Um...hi." Harry said, desperately trying to get his breath back. It wasn't working.

The smirks morphed into grins, "We've received some reports of loud banging and shouting. Your neighbours seem to think that there's an argument going on."

"Oh no!" Harry denied quickly, "No argument. Just...celebrating being alive." He winced.

The police officer standing at the back snorted in amusement.

"NO!" Harry said panicking, "That came out wrong! We're not doing-"

"Harry?" Zarek asked stepping up behind him, "Who is it?"

"Oh yes," The officer at the front said, his partner choking on laughter, as he looked a half naked and sweaty Zarek up and down. "I see."

"No! No you don't!" Harry denied.

"Harry."

Harry just groaned and dropped his reddened face into his hands as he heard Ash come up behind them.

Both officers were laughing now. "Well, we can see you were busy..."

"Yes, we were." Zarek cut in.

"Just try to keep down the..._celebrating_...in the future. Some people need to sleep."

"It's not like that!" Harry said flustered, "We weren't...he's my nep-" He was cut off as Ash's hand clamped across his mouth.

"Sure thing officers, you have a good night now." Ash said with a smile as Harry tried to claw his hand away from his mouth.

"You too." The officer said with a grin as he dragged his laughing partner down the hallway.

Ash closed the door.

"What was that?" Harry practically yelled in frustration, "They now think we're having some sort of weird kinky threesome thing going on! I was only going to say that you were my nephew!"

"Yeah," Ash said blankly, "and then get taken in for incest."

Harry looked at Ash in horror before burying his face in Zarek's chest. "Make the images go away." He whimpered, "Do. Not. Want."

Zarek patted him on the back in consolation and leading him back to the miraculously restored sofa in the living room. As Harry seemed to be clinging to Zarek as if he was a teddy that could stave off the nightmares, Ash sat in the armchair opposite them.

"I think that it would be a good thing if Harry stayed with you for a while, Zarek. Especially after what the Daimon's did to Talon's house."

Harry's head shot up as he stiffened, Zarek shooting him an incomprehensible look. "Daimons?" Talon's house?"

Ash looked at him, "Yes, Daimons burnt down Talon's house." He frowned, "Don't you know this? Weren't you there?"

"Oh! Oh _those_ Daimons." Harry laughed nervously.

"Yes." Ash deadpanned. "We think they were after you specifically and were sent by the people who seem to want to cause havoc lately."

Harry shifted, edging closer to Zarek. "Is...er...Talon mad?"

Ash sighed, "He was furious, but when we realised that it wasn't your fault and that you were missing he was worried about you."

"...ah."

"Fortunately," Ash continued, "I was able to help him fix up his house as an apology. After all, it never would have been burnt down if you weren't there."

"You got that right." Harry murmured quietly under his breath.

"_Un_fortunately I wasn't able to save his computers."

Harry's eyes widened.

"We think that the smoke and fire damage was too much for the hard drive. There's only so much I can do."

"Yeah...um – what about his crocodile thing?"

"Alligator."

"Whatever, what happened to it?"

"She."

"Is _it_ alright?"

Ash nodded, "A bit singed around the edges but alive. She was also angry. We think she broke in as the building was on fire to attack the Daimons, or to save you."

"Oh that's...great..." Harry grimaced. Yeah, the vengeful alligator was alive and ready to eat him for destroying her master's house at any moment. "Great."

Ash nodded. "Now, about the next few days. Zarek, I want you to keep an eye on Harry for me. Now that we know he's definitely a target I want him safe until I can find and remove this threat."

"I'm not one of your lapdogs anymore."

"Please," Ash gritted out, "as a favour. If you won't do it for me then do it for him – he gave you your freedom."

"I _had_ my freedom all along!"

"But you didn't know. Just think how many more years it would've taken for this to come to light, if it would have ever?

"If anything you owe him that. Please."

Zarek looked undecided for a moment as he glanced down to look at Harry and was assaulted by the biggest pair of puppy dog eyes he had ever seen.

"I don't want to die." Harry whispered.

Zarek groaned and slumped back. "Fine."

Ash grinned. "Wonderful. You don't have to stay in here. Go out, enjoy yourself. Just make sure he doesn't die...or gets captured."

"Yeah, yeah. I got it."

"Right." Ash said standing up and shooting an amused glance at Harry, who was _still_ clinging to Zarek, with neither of them noticing. "Well, I'll be off. People to see, Daimons to kill and all that."

Harry nodded and waved at him. "Have fun!"

"Will do." Ash took one last look at Harry and Zarek on the sofa and, with a raised eyebrow, disappeared.

"That...was weird." Zarek said after a moment.

Harry turned back to face him and shuffled in closer. "What was?"

"Ash. He's..._never_ like that."

"Like what?"

"You know...talking. Happy. Relaxed. Like a _normal_ person. I think he even sounded English there for a second."

"Oh." Harry grinned, "He gets that from me!"

Zarek turned to him in confusion.

"There's only room for one weird person in our family, and that's me. Ash _has_ to be the sane one now. And I'm also slowly indoctrinating him into the English way of life."

Zarek nodded, and then frowned. "What happened to all your other family members?"

"My sister killed them!"

Zarek's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "Ah. I see what you mean."

"Yes, being English rocks."

"What? No, that's-" Zarek just shook his head at Harry's confusion. "Yeah, sure. Whatever kid."

Harry pouted. "I'm not a kid. Have you already forgotten the part where I'm Ash's uncle and super powerful?"

"Yeah, 'cos I can see where being able to create replica pottery statues will be able to get you far."

Harry drew back, hurt. "I'm twenty three. Not a kid. And I _am _powerful."

"You can't be that powerful if Ash has been shipping you off to other Dark Hunter's." Zarek pointed out.

"That's for protection!"

"Because you can't protect yourself."

"No! It's...its _extra_ protection. Because he's worried about me, because I haven't had much experience going up against gods."

"Because you're a kid."

"I'M NOT A KID!"

"Look," Zarek tried to reason with him, "It's not a bad thing. It just means that you need someone to look out for you."

Harry stood up and took two steps back, crossing his arms across his chest. "That's not true. I can take care of myself," he protested, willing his voice not to break but whether it was from feeling hurt or fury he was unsure, "I took out that Daimon by myself, didn't I?"

"Oh yes," Zarek said frustrated, "because losing control of your powers is one way to take them out."

There was silence as they stared at one another, not knowing just how the conversation had taken the turn to this.

"You don't have to be a dick about it." Harry said quietly.

"Kid, look-"

"My _name_ is _Harry_." He hissed.

"Harry. Look-"

"I'm going to bed." Harry cut him off, turning and practically running out the room.

Zarek scrambled after him, "Harry!"

The sound of the bedroom door slamming shut cut him off and he turned and punched the wall beside him. "Damn it. What the _hell_ just happened?"

Sighing, he slowly made his way to the bedroom door. He honestly had no clue what had just occurred. It had seemed that they had been getting on and then suddenly they were arguing over something stupid.

Needing someone to look after you wasn't a bad thing!

...unless you were all alone.

Zarek groaned and thumped his head against the door.

"Harry?" He tried. There was only silence. "Are you going to let me in?"

"No." Harry answered, his voice muffled through the door.

"You do realise this is my flat right?"

"Shut up and go away."

"You're being childish."

"Oh, well then," Harry hissed venomously, "isn't it lucky that you see me as nothing but a _child_."

"I didn't mean it like-"

"What a _shock_," Harry continued cutting Zarek off, "that I'm acting like one."

"Would you just-"

"_Why are you even surprised then?"_

"Harry! Would you let me explain?" Zarek shouted, slamming his fist against the wood so hard that it cracked right up the middle. Zarek eyed it warily.

There was silence.

"Can I come in?" He asked again once he had his temper under control.

"No."

Zarek gritted his teeth and grabbed the door knob. "Well that's just too bad, isn't it?"

With that he shouldered the door open, the crack widening under the force and splitting the door in two so that he was left holding half the door by the doorknob.

Throwing the half-door to one side he pushed into the room and rolled his eyes when he saw that Harry had curled up into a ball under his duvet.

Sighing he walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Harry."

"Go away."

The voice came out muffled thanks to the covers so Zarek wasn't one hundred percent sure but he thought that Harry might have been crying.

"Are you crying?" He asked uncertainly.

Harry whipped off the covers and Zarek was met with a furious face that was, thankfully, dry. "No. Dickhead."

"That's good. I don't know how to deal with girly emotions."

Harry let out a short scream of rage and sat up properly. "You-you!" He stuttered, "Are the most-" He cut off with another scream of rage.

Zarek smirked.

"It's not girly to cry! Guys can cry! It's acceptable nowadays! _And in any case_ I wasn't crying!"

"Kids cry too." Zarek pointed out calmly.

Harry lunged for him.

"Shut up! I'm not a kid! I can do stuff! I'M NOT USELESS!"

Zarek caught the fists that were heading to his face and twisted his body so that Harry's lunge followed though and they both ended up on the floor.

_This_ he could deal with.

They grappled for a few minutes, tumbling over one another as they both tried to get the upper hand before Zarek's bigger build, strength and experience won out and he had Harry beneath him, wrists pinned above his head.

Harry struggled as hard as he could to get out of the hold but just couldn't seem to shake him off. After a few more moments the fight left his and he collapsed against the floor.

"I'm not useless, I'm not! I can help Ash out!"

Zarek nodded and inwardly winced at the pain in his jaw. Harry had managed to land a few lucky punches whilst they were wrestling and damn if the boy had a mean right hook.

"I don't know why he won't let me help. I've fought before. You can't have lived my life and not fought."

Zarek watched as Harry closed his eyes and his bottom lip began to tremble.

"Does he think I'm useless?" Harry whispered, and Zarek was unsure if he was supposed to be hearing this, "I don't want any more family to think I'm useless. Worthless. _Freak_."

Zarek growled at the last word, he didn't care if he wasn't supposed to be hearing this but the ki-Harry reminded him too much of his younger self right now and that just pissed him off.

"You're not worthless, or a freak. Who called you that? I'll tear them apart with my bare hands."

Harry's eyes shot open. "What?" He asked in disbelief.

Zarek leaned closer until their foreheads were pressed together and all he could see was green. "You're not any of those things. And Ash doesn't think that either."

"But-"

"No." Zarek cut him off. "Ash is terrified of losing you. You're his only family too."

Harry made a small noise of protest. "How can you even tell?"

"I can see it in his eyes." Zarek said hollowly, "Once you know what it feels like you can recognise it straight away."

Harry stared at him and Zarek sighed, leaning back until he was sitting on his heels between Harry's legs. "Look," he said running a hand though his hair, "I'm..._sorry_ for what I said okay? I didn't mean most of it."

Harry propped himself up on his elbows carefully, "Then why did you say it?"

"I don't..." he trailed off with a noise of frustration, "I don't know."

Harry sighed and let himself fall back onto the floor, his face turned towards what was left of the door.

"You broke my door." He said after a moment.

Zarek barked out a laugh and stood up, holding out a hand to help Harry off the floor. "First off, this is _my_ flat so I broke _my_ door."

"Nu-uh" Harry stuck out his tongue and flopped onto the bed, rolling over so he was only taking up half of the double. He patted the space next to him in an invitation to Zarek. "Ash rented it, ergo, this is Ash's place, ergo, this is my place, ergo that is _my_ door."

"Spoiled brat." Zarek said with a small smile as he lay down next to him.

"Yeah well," Harry said with a yawn, his eyes drooping, "shut up."

"So eloquent."

Harry grumbled and snuggled further into his pillow. Zarek rolled his eyes, feeling rather tired himself. He'd just lay here until he was sure Harry was completely asleep then he'd leave to his own room.

* * *

...Wow. That was...I have no idea what happened. The entire second half of this chapter just came out of nowhere. Honestly! This was supposed to be the last chapter!

Guess NEXT chapter will be the last chapter. :S

And what was with the angst? Where did the funny go? Next chapter will be funny I SWEAR IT!

Thanks for the reviews! And don't forget to go to my profile and vote on the Advent pairing that you'd like to read – or no pairing if that's your thing :) I'm taking down the poll soon so I can start to plan out the story.

Please Review!


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Aww...last chapter! Okay, there may be the possibility to continue this going through the series...with added Harry. A lot of work but...I think it would turn out amusing. But I'd like to hear your thoughts on it. Would you like me to continue?

* * *

Harry was warm. Harry was really warm and his pillow was _awesome_. And breathing. But really...

...wait.

"Is there something you need to tell me?"

Harry's eyes shot open and immediately landed on Ash, who was looking at him and smirking with a raised eyebrow.

"Uhwha?"

"Now really," Ash said motioning at him, "do I have to get the shotgun?"

Harry frowned in confusion and lifted himself up.

His pillow grumbled.

With wide eyes Harry looked down to the sight of Zarek's naked chest.

"Holy crap!"

"It's a shame." Ash continued on blithely, "I rather _liked_ Zarek. But if he's defiled my lovely naive uncle..."

"I...what? No! That's not what happened!"

Ash just looked at him. It was about then that Harry realised that with the blankets covering them like they were, it looked, for all intents and purposes, like both he and Zarek were naked.

And with Harry practically sleeping on top of Zarek the situation was not good.

"I'M WEARING PANTS!" Harry yelled, leaping out of bed; the covers tangling around his legs, tripping him and making him crash face first into the floor.

Zarek woke with a yell at the loud noise and sat bolt upright. Ash bit the inside of his cheek.

"See?" Harry said with a groan, gesturing at his lower half, "All covered and not naked."

Zarek looked at Ash, then down at the legs and blanket that were half covering his own before disappearing off the side of the bed and out of sight. He leant over to see a rather flustered looking Harry lying mussily on the floor.

"Ah," Ash agreed, "then I see I have no need to kill Zarek right now."

"Wait." Zarek cut in. "What?"

"My head hurts." Harry said. "I landed on it." Both Ash and Zarek turned to look at Harry again. "I think I may have re-given myself concussion."

"Is 're-given' even a word?" Zarek asked, looking at Ash.

Ash shrugged. "No idea."

"Aren't you like...a billion years old?" Zarek said bewildered, "shouldn't you have a grasp on the English language by now?"

Ash stared at him blankly.

"No, seriously guys," Harry cut in, "concussion."

Ash rolled his eyes and picked up his errant uncle off of the floor and dumped him back onto Zarek, ignoring Harry's puppy-pout as he did so.

"I'm immune to that look," he warned Harry, "Simi uses it all the time."

"But you give Simi everything she wants...and then some."

Ash looked shifty for a moment. "Point. I'm sorry."

"You're forgiven!" Harry chirped, leaning back into Zarek's chest. "Now, what did you come here for?"

"Tonight's Mardi Gras," Ash said, suddenly serious, "I came here to warn you to be extra careful. If anything is going to go down then it's going down tonight. I'm having Valerius guard Sunshine so you don't need to worry about that but Harry; I want you to stay out of trouble."

"Pssh," Harry waved him off, "When have I ever gone looking for trouble?" He asked with a snort.

Ash stared at him, and then turned to Zarek. "Ok, tie him down to the bed and don't let him up – no matter how much he begs."

Zarek and Harry stared at him with wide eyes, blushing faintly. Ash re-ran what he had just said through his head and grimaced. "Not like that!"

Harry and Zarek kept on staring.

"Bunch of perverts, the lot of you." Ash grumbled under his breath as he straightened and brushed the front of his shirt, a faint blush dusting his cheeks.

Harry and Zarek shared a look.

"Oooookaaaay…" Harry said, shifting uncomfortably then stopping when Zarek grunted behind him. "Anyway!"

Ash cleared his throat. "So, yes. Um…I'm going to go now. Lots of things to plan for and all that."

He turned to leave but was stopped by Harry calling out "Wait!"

"Yeah?"

Harry scrambled up off the bed and stood in front of Ash looking a bit sheepish. "I…can I put a monitoring charm on you? In case something happens?"

Ash grimaced slightly. "Can you promise that it'll work and won't turn me into a chicken?"

"Yes."

Ash raised an eyebrow.

"No."

Ash snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Please?" Harry asked. "I…I don't want to lose you too." He added quietly.

Ash sighed, feeling like a jerk at the face that Harry was pulling. "Okay."

"Great!" Harry grinned brightly and placed his hands on Ash's cheeks, cupping his face. Closing his eyes he concentrated hard on his magic, twisting it to what he wanted. It left him in a rush and he opened his eyes cautiously.

Ash was still standing there.

"Was that it?" Ash asked in some surprise.

Harry checked and rechecked the spell but it seemed to be working correctly. He grinned and then pouted. "You didn't have to sound so surprised!"

Ash stepped back and patted himself down. "Huh."

"Well that was touching." Zarek cut in from the bed.

Ash glared at him. Harry just rolled his eyes.

"Right, now that Zarek has ruined _that_ family moment…"

Zarek grinned unrepentantly.

Ash huffed lightly. "I have to go anyway." He hugged Harry tightly, like this was the last chance he was going to be given to do so.

Harry let him, hugging Ash back just as tightly. "Stay safe, Apostolos." Harry whispered fiercely into his shoulder. "If you die my sister is the _last_ thing the world needs to worry about."

Ash leant back, shocked. Taking in the cold resolve in Harry's eyes he could only nod and pray that it never _ever_ came to that.

Ever.

"Right." Ash said, "Stay safe. And stay out of trouble."

"Got it." Harry grinned and gave him a thumbs up.

Ash shivered.

"What?" Harry asked, his smile dropping from his face.

"That's exactly what you did when I left you at Talon's. Then I came back to find you missing and the house burned to the ground."

"Ah." Harry winced. "But this time will be different because nothing bad is going to happen."

Ash just stared at him, trying to memorise his face.

"Besides," Harry added, "you can't stay here. You've got stuff to do. And Zarek will be with me at all times. Model of maturity that he is."

Ash nodded and pulled Harry close for one last hug before he disappeared.

Harry stared at the empty spot for a moment before turning to Zarek.

"You wanna go get drunk?"

Zarek shrugged. "Sure."

Harry grinned and bounced over to Zarek, pulling him up off the bed. "Okay, first we should get clean and then dressed. Then I can show you all the best places to drink!"

Zarek smirked, "Do they even serve you?"

"Hey!" Harry pouted, "I have I.D."

"Suuuure."

Harry smacked him on the arm and hustled him through into the bathroom. "Stop being sarcastic and go wash."

Half an hour later and Harry was dragging a clean Zarek down the stairs. He was about to tug him out the door when Zarek stopped short causing Harry to jerk back into him.

"Ow." Harry winced, rubbing his shoulder, "What was that for?"

Zarek didn't answer him though; too busy concentrating on the rectangle of sunlight that was thrown on the floor by the open door.

Harry looked from him, to the floor and back to him. "I wasn't lying," he said softly.

His voice seemed to bring Zarek out of whatever thoughts he had fallen into. He glanced away from Harry, his jaw clenched. "I used to be trapped by it." He said hoarsely. "In my cabin, in the summer. Months and months of hell on earth. All thanks to a lie that I was made to believe.

"I didn't pray though. Nobody had ever helped me before. I was always the abomination. Didn't think that was going to change when I was shoved away into that goddamned place."

Harry shifted until he was in front of him and reached up until he could gently tip Zarek's head back so that he was looking at him.

"I would help you." He said seriously. "Whenever and for whatever. You are a good man Zarek and you have my loyalty."

Zarek scowled. "How do you know that though?" He asked bitterly.

"Because," Harry grinned at him, "You could have left me to die. Or blamed the fight on me. Or stabbed me when I was annoying. But you didn't!"

Zarek snorted and tightened his grip on the hand of Harry's that he still held. "You _were_ very annoying." He conceded.

"Hey!" Harry laughed and tugged Zarek out of the door and into the first sunlight he'd stepped into for over two thousand years, "I had a concussion. I think a little leeway is due."

Zarek didn't answer, just stood in the sunshine with his eyes closed and his head tipped back, basking in it.

Harry stayed quiet and watched the twitches of emotion play across his face.

After ten minutes Zarek opened his eyes and looked at him. "Now what?" He asked.

Harry grinned. "Now we drink!"

Seven hours later found Harry and Zarek in the twelfth bar of the night. Just like all the others the place was packed, except for the small corner of the bar that Zarek had occupied for himself and Harry.

Harry was lying on the floor, his eyes closed. "Hey Zarek?"

Zarek took another swig of beer. He had long since stopped caring at how bad it tasted.

Harry pried open an eye and peered up at him. "What am I leaning against? And why does it smell weird?"

Zarek sighed and glanced down at him. This was the third time they had had this conversation. "You're not leaning against anything."

Harry stared at him and patted the floor. "I'm pretty sure I am…"

"No." Zarek said patiently, "That's the floor. You're lying down."

"Oh!" Harry said rather dazedly, "I had wondered how you had managed to get the chair to stick to the wall."

Zarek snorted in amusement.

Harry rolled over until he was staring wide-eyed at the ceiling. "So I'm on the floor. It makes more sense to me now!"

There was the relative silence of contemplation that was constantly interrupted by party-goers.

Zarek broke it by asking Harry quietly, "What did you mean by the useless comment you made yesterday?"

Harry still stared at the ceiling but his face was scrunched up into a frown as he tried to remember. "I don't…" realisation struck and his expression turned sad. "Oh."

Zarek shifted in his stool so that he could look down at Harry.

"That was my family. Not my family family. Ash family. My _other_ family. You know?"

"Not really."

"The other side. The evil side. They always said that and I always thought it was true. Even…" He trailed off with a faraway look in his eye. "And then I found my proper family and was included. You know? And I maybe started to…"

"Believe that you were wanted? That you were useful?" Zarek asked softly.

"Yeah." Harry breathed. "And then I was shoved away when…" He snapped his mouth closed and breathed in deeply through his nose. Zarek watched him in understanding, though he was shocked when Harry suddenly plastered on a large grin and said brightly, "You know what? I'm gonna drink! Drink until it aaaaall gets better!"

Zarek snorted again, the sombre mood ruined. "Well it's not going to get better on the floor." He told Harry as he took another mouthful of beer.

Harry pouted up at him. "Shut up! Of course it is! Oh look! A peanut!"

Zarek choked, "DO NOT EAT THAT!"

Harry froze with the snack halfway to his mouth.

Zarek was mentally reviewing how exactly he got into this situation when Harry sat bolt upright, startling him so badly that he spilt his drink in his lap.

"What the hell?" He asked, turning his attention to a wide-eyed Harry as he brushed ineffectually at his crotch.

Harry slowly tilted his head until he was looking Zarek dead in the eye. "My Ash senses are tingling."

Zarek stared at him blankly. "Why do I get the feeling that you're quoting something?"

Harry launched himself upright so quickly that he didn't even have time to tip back over and grabbed hold of Zarek.

"And why do I get the feeling that I'm going to regret this?" Zarek managed to get out before Harry's power crackled around them and they disappeared from the bar.

They arrived in a room that looked to be part of some sort of abandoned warehouse, Harry still clinging to Zarek for support. Which, really, would have been fine except Zarek had been sitting when Harry poofed them there.

He landed on his arse with a thud, dragging Harry down with him.

"Ow! What the hell! We were in the middle of a bar! A _crowded_ bar!" He complained loudly as he stood and pulled Harry up.

Then he noticed that they were being stared at in disbelief by a bunch of people. One of them looking almost exactly like Ash.

His jaw dropped.

Harry blinked as the room tipped about him. "Oh hey!" He said brightly, "Nothing happened! That was so much easier when I'm completely sloshed."

A regal looking man with a goatee raised a hand in acknowledgement and Harry focused on the movement.

Then he noticed everyone else, including the flying demons.

"Whoa…" he breathed. "Who let out the flying monkeys?"

The only woman in the room snorted and Harry grinned at her for a second and then turned back to the two figures surrounded by the demons. The more he concentrated the more sober he was becoming.

"Guess that makes you the wicked witch of the-" The figures came into focus. There were two Ash's. "Holy crap!" Harry exclaimed, pointing at the blond one. "It's the evil twin!"

Then Harry noticed that Blond-Ash was behind Ash, touching him and Ash was panting with tears in his eyes. His eyes narrowed and he felt power crackle around him, causing everyone to take a step away from him.

Blond-Ash sneered. "My _name_ is Styxx. And why do you think _I'm_ the evil one?"

"Blonds' are always evil." Harry glared at him. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Styxx smiled at him evilly. "Something I should have done a long time, little boy." He turned his attention back to Ash, "Do you remember when Estes died, Acheron?"

Ash flinched and Harry felt his magic lash out, hitting the wall and cracking it straight down the middle. "Shut your mouth, Styxx!"

Styxx just laughed, ignoring Harry, "The way my father and I found you? I have never been able to forget it."

"I'm warning you!" Another crack appeared in the wall, this one running half across the floor as well.

"Or what?" Styxx sneered, "Stay out of this boy! This is family business!"

Harry was trembling so badly from rage that he couldn't move. All he could do was lock eyes with Ash as his magic lashed about him.

"Every time I have ever thought of you, it's the image I have." Styxx whispered in Ash's ear. "You're repulsive." Harry saw a tear slip out of the corner of Ash's eye and trail down his cheek. "Disgusting."

"STEP THE HELL AWAY FROM MY NEPHEW!"Harry roared, his body finally listening to him as he ran towards his only family, pushing through the demons that had moved to surround him. Styxx stared at him, stunned.

"We don't have time for this." One of the men muttered and pulled out a dagger.

Then all hell broke loose. The demons bursting free and filling the air with the sound of flapping wings and slashing tails making it impossible to see without covering your eyes for protection.

Talon spear-tackled the man to the floor and started grappling with him for possession of the dagger as the woman who had been behind him shrieked and backed up against the wall.

"Kill him!" The goateed man yelled over the cacophony before Zarek punched him in the jaw causing him to drop to the ground.

Through the pandemonium Harry saw Styxx pull out a dagger and raise it high above his head.

"No!" Harry screamed, his magic lashing out once again and then suddenly he was there, standing looking at a dazed Ash on the other side of the room. He had exactly a second to feel relief before the dagger pierced his heart.

Harry choked, staring at the hilt buried deep in his chest, blood rapidly staining his shirt and filling his lung. He coughed and felt in bubble in his chest even as it sprayed across his lips.

He looked up to see Ash's horrified face.

"Ash?" Harry asked in confusion, blood dribbling out the corner of his mouth.

"_What have you done_?" Screamed Styxx, pushing Harry away from him, "You've ruined _everything_!"

Harry's breath left him as Styxx ripped the dagger out of his chest.

"Harry!" Zarek's voice came over from where the woman was pressed against the wall. But Harry only had eyes for Ash, even when he fell to his knees.

He coughed again, a lot more blood dribbling down his chin and throat. "Ash," he croaked, "I don't feel so good."

Then the world exploded.

Harry felt his entire being burst from his physical body in a roll of black smoke, pulsing out of the room, the warehouse, the city in one long shockwave. He could feel it all, everything that he touched. The caressing wind in the trees, the tumulus emotions of the people, the sparking zing of electricity and the _power_.

Never had he felt such an untapped source!

The entire planet was laid beneath him, his for the taking. All he had to do was _stretch…_

He was jerked back when he felt a hand cupping his face. Which should be impossible as he was incorporeal.

His view of the world was overlapped by images of the warehouse room; his power was pulsing, causing it to crumble around the occupants whilst trapping them. Talon was clutching the woman in his arms, a soft silver glow had surrounded them and Harry instantly knew that power.

"_Morrigán._"

His voice came out double-layered and the glow pulsed in recognition and reply. "_Deal with your quarrel_."

The glow pulsed again, growing brighter until it was blinding, before it suddenly disappeared, taking Talon, the woman and the other god with it.

Harry turned from the empty space to the goateed man. "_Dionysus."_ The man flinched. "_You are not welcome here."_

Dionysus didn't have time to even open his mouth before a blast of power sent him out of the room and back to Olympus.

The duel layer of images was giving him a headache but he wasn't quite finished yet. He turned his attention to Styxx who was cowering on the ground, unable to stand before him. "_Styxx. You dare try to harm my family?"_

Styxx opened his mouth but Harry wasn't finished yet.

"_You dare try to take what is mine?"_

"Who are you?"

"_I am Apolysis. The Redeemer."_ He crackled in glee at the fear in Styxx's eyes, "_And you _will_ be redeemed._"

There was another burst of power and Styxx disappeared, Harry dragging him into a hell especially created for him. After all, what was redemption without penance?

Now that the threats were gone, Harry could feel the power calling to him, begging him to take control, to redeem the world, unleash literal hell on them so they could start atonement.

The gentle touch of a hand on his face wouldn't let him draw completely out of his body. He focused his attention back into his physical body; it was becoming a lot harder than it should have been.

Ash was standing in front of him.

"Harry?" He asked softly.

At the sound of his voice Harry's consciousness jerked and the double images started to spin. He hoped they stopped soon, they were giving him motion sickness and he didn't really want to find out if a conscious body of energy could throw up.

Ash didn't move his hand from his cheek. Instead he raised his other hand until he was cupping Harry's face and rested their foreheads together. "Harry, come back to me."

Harry swallowed, the images of outside dissolving slowly, "Ash?" He croaked.

"Yeah, I'm here."

With one final pulse the rest of Harry's power snapped back into him and he collapsed, breathing heavily as Ash caught him and cradled him in his arms as he trembled.

"Ash, what…?"

"It's all right Harry; it's going to be fine."

Harry scrabbled at his chest only to find that the dagger was missing and, although his shirt was bloodstained and ruined, there wasn't a mark on him.

Zarek crouched down beside them. "I've got to say, that was _very_ impressive. Scary as shit but impressive."

Harry snorted.

"Harry, I have to ask," Ash cut in, "What did you do to Styxx?"

"He's alive." Harry sighed, "I think I trapped him in my realm. He will have to make penance before he can be released. And he's got about eleven thousand years of that."

Ash sighed in relief but looked curiously when Harry started to laugh. "What is it?"

Harry grinned at him. "You're evil twin has a girl's name."

* * *

DONE! XD

Hope people enjoyed this and that you didn't think I just turned Harry into an all powerful Gary Stu character!

I actually got the name Apolysis from Apollo's wiki site. It listed Apollymi as the Greek verb "to destroy" and Apolysis means "redeem". I figure it fitting to have a half brother with a similar name and similar power. After all, it's a tossup between the destruction of the world or having to live through Hell on Earth being the worst thing ever.

I'm in two minds about continuing this series, I mean, it's pretty much just following the storylines…but I do have a tentative plan drawn up.

Tell you what, if people want to read more of Harry screwing up the books then drop me a review telling me so. If I get more than five wanting it then I'll get started on the sequel which is tentatively named _Dancing with Chaos_.


End file.
